Thursday, July 14, 2011

Cholecystectomy and Bad Movie Reviews

Abdominal surgery equals couch potato. Despite my best intentions, there's no avoiding this really. Although I have been getting out every day for an errand or two (or three - there's always something to pick up) I'm rather exhausted when I get home, and I wonder what my problem is. It's annoying to no end.

But along with prime time catching up with old blogging friends, reading books (some book reviews to come), I've managed to watch some DVDs and have discovered that cholecystectomy has done something - at least temporarily- to my taste in films.

Case in point - Day 2 post surgery: I LOVED the movie "The Dilemma" starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James. I mean, it also starred Jennifer Connolly and Winona Ryder, who I've missed (she had such a great start before shopping dysfunction...). The premise of "what would you do if you found out your best friend's wife was having an affair" provided all sorts of comedic opportunity. And I laughed, to the point of having to clutch at my stomach in case of stitch-rupture.

Second case in point - Day 3 post surgery: I LOVED "How Do You Know" starring Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, Jack Nicholson EVEN MORE. It's a James L Brooks film with wonderful actors - of course I should have loved it! Reese Witherspoon - the tiny thing, yeah, she's believable as a Pro-softball player faced with forced upon retirement; Owen Wilson - the lovable cad, yes, he worked for me; Paul Rudd - what's not to love about lovable Paul Rudd? Yeah, he could be a duped CEO with a loving but dysfunctional relationship with his loud angry father (yes, that would be Jack.) Rotten Tomatoes gave both those movies squashed green tomatoes.

Case #3 - One week post surgery: I DID NOT LIKE "Somewhere" by Sofia Coppola. I had been looking forward to seeing this film since I first found out about it at the end of last year - I read a write up about Stephen Dorff's return to the big screen while on a work trip in Europe, and some sexy photos of him in those European magazines added to my anticipation of course. I was looking forward to some touching father/daughter scenes between him and Elle Fanning (gorgeous girl - Dakota must be jealous!) and although I must admit they did have some great chemistry, overall the film was one big SNOREFEST for me. Maybe I'm still too out of it to catch the symbolism and the subtleties (yeah, I know the "movie star escaping the trappings of celebrity for something real like the love of their child" wasn't so subtle) and it is a quiet film. But just way too quiet.

Would I normally love movies #1 and #2 - uh, likely not LOVE. Would I normally love movies like "Somewhere" - well yes, I would say so. For example, I really enjoyed the movie "Control", the story of Ian Curtis/ Joy Division that I finally watched a couple of weeks ago. Another quiet type of movie, shot in black and white actually, but it was different and I loved it.

So along with my gallbladder, it looks like my taste in film has also gone by the wayside. Hopefully the effect isn't irreversible.

Let's test it - next up are Cairo Time, The Fighter, Creation, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.

I'm glad that you're through and OK now. And hoping that your taste will improve and that at some point you'll be ready to see "The Tree of Life", because it's awesome. But very cerebral and not what you want when you're sick. My go to sick movies are along the lines of "Pretty Woman", and old "Star Trek" episodes.

LinkWithin

About Me

I'm a mom of 2, living in the burbs, trying to stay urban. The hubs, my boy, my girlie, my life. Pull up a chair and stay awhile...you'll find I like to talk especially after a glass of fine, and maybe not so fine, wine...